Exploring integrated STEM education as a pathway toward achieving sustainable development goal 4 through stakeholder perspectives

This qualitative exploratory study examines curriculum specialists’ and teachers’ conceptualizations of integrated STEM education and its practicability toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) in an underserved context. Despite global momentum, traditional siloed, content driven teaching learning persists, limiting twenty-first century competencies amid resource constraints. Through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with eight purposively selected stakeholders (four teachers and four curriculum specialists), thematic analysis revealed multifaceted conceptualizations of integrated STEM as interdisciplinary connections to real world problems guided by curriculum frameworks. Practicability in the current context reflected a balance between opportunities such as school laboratories, natural settings, inquiry-based textbooks, and challenges, including workload pressures, entrenched pedagogical traditions, and collaboration gaps. Participants unanimously affirmed integrated STEM’s practicability for advancing SDG 4, highlighting its potential to foster learner centered sustainable learning and workforce readiness. Grounded in social constructivism, the findings underscore implications for curriculum reform, teacher training, and policy-practice collaboration to advance equitable quality education in developing contexts.